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Sunday, August 10, 2014

My Review of Falling Skies 4.08- A Thing With Feathers

Before I get to the review of this week's episode, I want to thank everyone who comes to visit this blog. Over the weekend, this blog passed 30,000 views! I am very grateful that so many people come to look at and read my thoughts.

This week on Falling Skies, Lexie reveals the Espheni's plans for humans to Ben, Hal makes a choice, Tom and Dingaan work together, and Matt doesn't lose faith.

Even though we've known for weeks that the Espheni have been turning humans into monsters, seeing the process was, quite frankly, horrifying. The fact that Lexie was waxing rhapsodic about it just made it even worse. Calling it the peaceful solution to the problem was an attempt to spin an event that simply could not be spun in any sort of good way unless you'd been drinking the Espheni Kool-Aid, which Lexie clearly has been doing. The fact that Ben has now declared that she is gone is a major step because, other than Anne, he has been her biggest defender in the Mason clan. Tom seems to be more about helping Anne than he is defending Lexie and Matt is reflexively defending her because she is family.

I was surprised that Lexie let Ben leave. I suspect that she truly thought he would be happy to join her once she revealed the "wonderful" nature of the Espheni plan. But his little speech about how she'd have to make him a slave seems to have struck a serious chord with her. I think that she genuinely wants Ben and the Masons to join her, but she wants them to join of their own free will and not because she forces them to do so.

Speaking of Ben, I have to wonder if giving Maggie some of his spikes will have any affect on him, her, or their relationship. I have never been entirely clear on how Ben gets his enhanced abilities, but I think that it is a combination of the spikes and implants in his back as well as the fluid that Anne removed from Deni and injected into Maggie. Given the way the two of them went into convulsions simultaneously, I suspect that Maggie can be controlled by Lexi now and may be somewhat enhanced, but we'll have to wait and see. I doubt if she'll reach the level that Ben and Deni are at, but it is possible. It is also possible that Ben's abilities will be diminished somewhat as a result of the spikes being removed. I do also have to say that I wish they would make more use of Ben's abilities. I don't want him to be a Mary Sue or deus ex machina, but the fact that they never use his abilities anymore is annoying.

Raise your hand if you were surprised that Hal lied and told Anne that Maggie wanted the injection to take place. If you raised your hand, consider yourself slapped upside the head. I totally get why he did it, and honestly I probably would have done it myself if I were him, but it was still not the best thing, if only because the results are extremely unpredictable. Adding the fluid and spikes into Maggie could change things in a serious way. And Hal seems to have just realized how Ben feels about Maggie although it has been obvious for some time.

Seeing Tom and Dingaan work together was interesting, mainly because of the revelatory conversations. Tom explained how he has to constantly remind himself that there is hope because if he gives up, other people will do so as well. And Dingaan revealed that his family died before the invasion. His son died when he was accidentally buried alive after Dingaan took his eyes off of him and his wife drank herself to death. Talk about having life suck! It was interesting seeing that ship and what was that thing that went into Tom's arm?

Like Hal's lie, Matt's not giving up on Tom was totally expected. I did not expect him to tackle and attack Pope, which was totally amusing. I am also not surprised that Anne still holds out hope for Lexi. I was hoping that Ben's report would dissuade her, but her desire to not lose a second child is stronger than anything Ben has to say.